Priority Box

The Internal Revenue Service is trying to collect billions of dollars in unpaid taxes from nearly half a million federal employees. According to IRS records, 171,549 current federal workers did not voluntarily pay their federal income taxes in 2007. The same is true for 37,752 active duty military and nearly 200,000 retired civilian and military personnel.

Documents obtained by WTOP through the Freedom of Information Act show 449,531 federal employees and retirees did not pay their taxes for a total of $3,586,784,725 in taxes owed last year.

Each year the IRS tracks the voluntary compliance rate of all federal workers and retirees. The percentage of employees and retirees who are delinquent has gone up and down over the past five years, but the amount unpaid has increased each year topping $3.5 billion for the first time in 2007.

The agency with the most delinquent employees is the U.S. Postal Service. With more than 747,000 employees, the postal service is the largest employer in the federal government, but with a 4.16 percent delinquency rate, it is a full 1 percent above the average compliance rate this year.

The IRS would not provide comparable data for the general population. But a spokesperson for the IRS did supply the delinquency rate for IRS employees — less than 1 percent. The IRS is the only federal agency where an employee can be fired for not paying his taxes.

The Executive Office of the President, which includes the White House, has 58 employees who did not pay $319,978.

The Federal Housing Finance Board comes in as the agency with the best compliance rate of all agencies with 100 or more employees. The FHFB had four of its 134 employees on the list of delinquents, three of them have now entered into voluntary payment plans with the IRS.

In fact, 152,554 of the delinquent feds have entered into payment plans. Nevertheless, $2.7 billion remains uncollected.

Other notable agencies with high delinquency rates include the Smithsonian Institution, where nearly 5.5 percent of the employees didn’t pay their taxes. On Capitol Hill, more than 1,000 workers are on the list. The Government Printing Office has the highest percentage of delinquent employees with 7.23 percent.

Last fall, worries over the U.S. and global economy soared as stock market values hit record lows.

To make matters even more dire, unemployment numbers escalated, reaching 8.1% this February—a number not seen in 25 years, according to statistics.

Most financial gurus advise a hold-on attitude for the next 2-5 years while government programs and consumer response show us how the current economic woes will shake out. But while the average citizen is taking care not to make risky moves in the market and to put assets into presumably low-risk programs, that hard earned money may be being watched by criminals who see a flagging economy as their own personal cash cow.

In a Failing Economy, Thieves Take More Risks

Experts agree that financial worries create the perfect storm for identity thieves and financial defrauders. There are a number of reasons for this phenomenon, which tend to repeat during nationwide economic downturns.

First, it is prudent to keep in mind that while law abiding individuals are panicking due to less cash flow and fears of the future, so too are those whose motives are less innocent.

Another factor is that savvy criminals realize desperate individuals are more likely to investigate get-rich-quick schemes in an effort to keep their families afloat. The wiliest and most insidious among today’s thieves are those that have a knack for “selling” an idea that, during less scary times, a sensible person wouldn’t give the time of day…then walking away with the person’s hopes, dreams and bank account.

Old-Fashioned Thievery: Still in Style

Of course, traditional thievery methods continue to occur as well. Home and office break-ins can be expected to increase during the coming months, according to theft experts.

So does identity theft based not only on data breaches (see below) but by hands-on theft. One of the most frequent (and untraceable) methods involves the thief rifling through dumpsters, garbage cans or even personal mailboxes in search of credit card offers or other paperwork that could give clues to a person’s identity, which is then lifted and used by the thief.

Inside Jobs

Disturbingly, even seemingly average workers are taking more than they earned. A number of surveys indicate that inside jobs—data breaches and the lifting of both computer and physical files by employees—is a growing problem.

In January, a McAfee, Inc. study showed that 42% of respondents worried about data breaches caused by former employees.

And an ominous 60% of polled individuals told the Ponemon Institute in Michigan that they’ve stolen data when leaving a company.

What Concerned Individuals Can Do?

Though the news may seem bleak, there are ways to thwart a criminal who is eying your hard-earned assets.

Security warnings posted on front gates no longer seem to be a major deterrent, but physically barring thieves from, for example, your mail will send a clear message. Consider investing in a secure, locking mailbox so that a stranger can’t get his or her hands on your information. Mailbox theft typically takes some subtlety and finesse; a potential ID thief is less likely to stand in front of the box trying to jimmy it open while cars and possibly pedestrians go by.

Other thrifty but proven methods include consumer monitoring services, which alert the individual to possible misuse of his or her accounts, and keeping a sharp eye on all debit transactions (try to go over your accounts at least twice a month). And be sure to get a copy of your credit report once a year, a free service that can save you future headaches and possible lawyer fees.

Don’t accept risks to your financial present and future. By taking a proactive, hands-on approach to watch dogging your accounts, your mail and your home, you can avoid becoming a negative statistic…and keep the assets you earn.

The US Postal Service has approved the first two-way postage indicia for reusable envelopes (great, they are going greener).

EcoEnvelopes will make the envelopes for them.

You will be able to use one-printed indicia – markings showing that postage has been paid – for both outgoing and reply postage on an envelope.

These are available to organizations using approved reusable envelopes along with a bulk rate permit using an Intelligent Mail Barcode.

With the unemployment rate at a 17-year high, job applicants are out in force. Unfortunately, so are those who would like to scam them.

Perhaps the most widespread scam is one promising jobs with the federal government. This scam entices victims by claiming it can locate good-paying jobs, often with the U.S. Postal Service, and always for a fee. Don’t be fooled. The government says all hiring for the USPS is done through 85 district offices at the local level. Further, the government lists all available jobs for free at usajobs.gov.

Other scams are centered on identity theft. These frauds generally occur online through bogus employment Web sites. Online job-search guide Job-Hunt.org says never provide your Social Security number when applying for a job online. Some frauds also ask for your mother’s maiden name, knowing it’s a security feature used by companies such as banks and credit-card companies. With this information, a scammer has a better chance of hacking into your financial information.

Even reputable companies are asking for Social Security numbers as a part of an employment application. The reason is so they can run a background check on you. But identity-theft experts say you should tell the recruiter you’d prefer to withhold the information until the company makes you a job offer.

In an effort to cut costs, U.S. Postmaster General John E. Potter has asked Congress to allow the federal Postal Service to go to five-day delivery instead of the current six-day system. It would be unfortunate — and would cause headaches for businesses and individuals alike — to lose that extra day of service. But the Postal Service is facing a possible $6 billion deficit this year and should be granted the flexibility to adjust its delivery schedule as necessary.

The US Postal Service losing streak continued in February, with the agency reporting a loss of $658 million, bringing the year to date loss for the fiscal year to $1.8 billion. The agency continued to aggressively cut employee work hours, which were down 12% from the prior year. That translated to a 7.3% decrease in wages and benefits. (The savings are inflated by 3-4% because 2008 was a leap year, so there was an extra weekday compared with 2009.) Revenue, meanwhile was down 12.8%. The slide in revenue accelerated from January’s 11.8% decline, but that number is also slightly inflated by the extra day in SPLY.

The sharpest drop was in standard mail, down 22% from February 2008. The decrease meant that there was actually less standard mail than first class in the system for the month, reversing recent trends. First class mail volume was down 12.7% compared with last year. Year to date, the USPS has processed about 11 billion fewer pieces of mail than it had at this point a year ago.

Non-personnel expenses were down 12.2% or $167 million, led by a 15% drop in transportation costs and a 14% decline in supplies and services. Information technology expenses increased by 26%, or about $7 million.

(Monthly financial results are unaudited and subject to change. Volume numbers are derived from permit data and statistical sampling. The sampling portion of the RPW system is designed to be statistically valid on a quarterly and annual basis.)

I recently read an article by Practical eCommerce, a site dedicated to online merchants and internet marketers.  The article is titled “PeC Traffic Report: The Direct Mail Solution” and focuses on increasing website traffic and overall conversion rates using Direct Mail.

It just goes to show you that time tested and proven direct mail marketing is still the most persuasive and, if done correctly, the most effective means of 1:1 marketing available.

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